Corrected: An earlier version of this story misspelled Crystal Gonzales鈥� name.
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Among the most pervasive and long-standing complaints from teachers of English-language learners is the dearth of high-quality instructional materials for addressing students鈥� language and academic needs.
Those concerns are particularly acute in middle and high school, when students have a wider range of abilities and less time to catch up. But with so many variables involved in educating English-language learners, the criticisms about existing curricula differ from one classroom to the next.
Some ELL teachers want phonics instruction embedded in readings for students at more basic levels of English learning, while others have all proficient readers and say the phonics can be a distraction. Some teachers want more supplemental materials in Spanish, while others don鈥檛 have any Spanish speakers in their rooms.
But among ELL experts, there鈥檚 at least some agreement: Materials for English-learners are often too simple and too disconnected from grade-level goals.
鈥淭he tendency in the past, and even at present, is to water the material down so the students can deal with it, or to give students material that is really meant for elementary school children, which insults their intelligence,鈥� said Rebecca Blum-Martinez, a professor in bilingual education at the University of New Mexico.
Many say that instructional materials fail to build students鈥� background knowledge, which is crucial to increasing vocabulary and helping language-learners catch up with their native-English-speaking peers.
Since the advent of the Common Core State Standards鈥攖he learning expectations more than 40 states are now using鈥攕ome notable efforts have been underway to improve literacy materials for English-learners, who, under the standards, are expected to be able to read and understand complex texts across all subjects.
But challenges remain, especially since many companies that develop and sell curricula are still simply adding potential modifications for ELLs to general materials, rather than developing the supports alongside the main academic content, experts say.
The Council of the Great City Schools, which represents 68 large urban districts, released in 2014 a framework for producing and identifying common-core-aligned materials that help English-learners. The document, written by ELL experts and practitioners, emphasizes that ELL materials need to be rigorous and provide strategies to teachers for supporting English-learners鈥� understanding of texts that meet the grade-level expectations.
鈥淭he challenges we saw [in looking at curricula] were primarily around the low level of rigor and incredibly extensive overuse of simplified text,鈥� said Gabriela Uro, the director of ELL policy and research for the council.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e new to English, the chance that you鈥檒l be able to take up a book and do independent reading when you鈥檝e never done it before is slim to none. But that doesn鈥檛 mean when the teacher鈥檚 teaching, you can鈥檛 be on grade level.鈥�
Teachers need to be able to use a variety of strategies and techniques to make texts and other learning materials accessible to students of many different language levels at once, said Lily Wong Fillmore, an education professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who specializes in literacy and second-language learning. And those techniques should be flexible, since students learn language at varying rates. Resources like Newsela, the free website that takes daily news articles and rewrites them at five different reading levels, can be great for making content accessible for English-learners at a variety of levels, she said. Textbooks often don鈥檛 offer much room for growth.
EngageNY, a free online library of academic materials created in New York state and used by educators around the country, hired consultants to make resource guides on how to support English-learners while using the curricula. The guides include research-based strategies for providing supports to ELLs in individual lessons, such as how to build background knowledge while capitalizing on what students already know.
And the Helmsley Charitable Trust is gathering ELL experts and developers of open educational resources鈥攆ree, openly licensed online materials鈥攖o discuss how those can better serve English-learners.
Focusing on open resources 鈥渆nables us to have an iterative improvement cycle,鈥� said Crystal Gonzales, a program officer of the trust鈥檚 education program who focuses on ELLs. 鈥淯nlike textbooks, [in which] you won鈥檛 see changes within six or seven years, [open educational resources] allow us to improve on this stuff as we move forward.鈥�
ELLs Are Often Overlooked
Too often, instructional materials for English-learners have been treated as something extra, rather than as an integral part of any instructional program, said Fillmore of Berkeley.
鈥淧ublishers see the need to deal with English-learners only as a kind of a sidebar where you put in some extra activities that really don鈥檛 add up to anything and have very little to do with the actual curriculum materials they put together,鈥� she said.
Farah Assiraj, who teaches at Boston International High School, a public school serving a diverse body of English-language learners, said she has struggled with the effects of that in the classroom.
鈥淧ublishing companies are very often focused on the core and general education, and ELL becomes a supplement,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 linked-in support, and you see handbooks that go along with [the curriculum], but they haven鈥檛 been intentional.鈥�
That puts a lot of pressure on teachers to fill in the gaps, she said.
Much of this comes down to a major problem with how learning materials are designed鈥攖hat ELL supports are added retroactively, said Diane August, the director of the Center for English-Language Learners at the American Institutes for Research, who was one of the EngageNY consultants.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really hard to go back after this stuff is developed and fix it,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to conceptualize things from the beginning.鈥�
Jay Diskey, the executive director of the Association of American Publishers鈥� school division, said after-the-fact additions of ELL supports are a valid concern, but that publishers overall are doing a much better job of considering English-learners鈥� needs during program design.
鈥淲e see this in all sorts of curriculum, that there can be鈥攏ot always, but there can be鈥攁 difference from building from the ground up and altering materials.鈥�
He pointed to California鈥檚 recent materials adoption as one example of progress. The state education department recently adopted a list of materials that combine the English/language arts and English-language-development standards. California is unique in that its criteria for curricula adoption requires that certain materials integrate both sets of standards.
Even so, August said the issue is hardly being addressed on a widespread scale. Many of the common-core-aligned materials publishers submitted for EngageNY came in with few or no supports for ELLs, which is why her team was hired to add them.
ELL Materials Are Too Childish
For ELLs, curricular materials must strike a careful balance between maintaining high expectations and ensuring that students can access, and understand, the content.
For middle and high school students, 鈥測ou don鈥檛 want to start them out with 鈥榮ee Dick run, see Sally fall,鈥� stuff鈥攖hat鈥檚 absolutely aggravating,鈥� said Catherine E. Snow, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education who specializes in language and literacy development in children. 鈥淎t the same time, they can鈥檛 access the material they鈥檙e interested in.鈥�
The Council of the Great City Schools鈥� framework for materials asserts that English-language learners 鈥渁re capable of engaging in complex thinking, reading and comprehension of complex texts, and writing about complex material.鈥� But too often, experts say, curricula err on the side of oversimplification.
鈥淎 lot of materials become dumbed-down baby books that don鈥檛 really engage their thinking,鈥� said Assiraj. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 take into consideration their experiences. I have kids who entered the country at 18 or 19 years old and can鈥檛 write at a 1st grade level. But one of them can fix any phone that breaks down. There鈥檚 this whole experiential learning that鈥檚 been pushed away and is not integrated into the curriculum.鈥�
For example, a text might define the word 鈥渃ommunity鈥� for English-learners鈥攂ut that鈥檚 not a concept that鈥檚 foreign to most Spanish speakers.
Students 鈥渉ave the cognition,鈥� said Uro of the Council of the Great City Schools. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 missing is being able to say what鈥檚 in their head.鈥�
On the other hand, students may need culture-specific concepts explained.
A text on the Harlem Renaissance won鈥檛 mean anything until the reader understands the basics about who was living in Harlem in the 1920s and why it was such a ferment of creative activity, she said. But implementing the kind of teaching that experts recommend鈥攗sing grade-level content and building background knowledge鈥攊sn鈥檛 always practical in the standalone ELL classroom.
Teaching Skills to English-Learners
Erika Schneider, who teaches high school English-language learners in Portland, Maine, said she used to try to keep up with what her students were learning in their general classes, but always felt like she was playing catch-up. Now, she looks for materials that teach students how to have analytical discussions and use academic language鈥攕kills they can transfer to any content area. For instance, they learn sentence frames like, 鈥淚 agree with his opinion, but... .鈥�
鈥淚 find I get more buy-in when they can walk away with skills they can use in any class,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hen you look at the common core, it鈥檚 about what can you do rather than who was the main character in The Great Gatsby.鈥�
Many practitioners and experts lament that materials only offer supports for struggling readers, not English-learners specifically.
鈥淭his is a very big problem because the materials for struggling readers generally utilize language structures and vocabulary that are very simple, short, and that a lot of times don鈥檛 provide the background knowledge that is needed when you鈥檙e learning a second language,鈥� said the University of New Mexico鈥檚 Blum-Martinez.
Even some of the new instructional materials in California seem to cater more to struggling readers than English-learners, said Diana Fujimoto, the English-learner-services curriculum specialist for the Anaheim Union High School District.
鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing those similar pieces in current materials,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here needs to be an emphasis on oral-language development and building opportunities for kids to speak and use language,鈥� which supports for struggling readers don鈥檛 usually provide.
Teachers Make Their Own Materials
As educators and administrators in districts will attest, teachers often end up making their own materials for English-learners.
鈥淚 spent so many years making materials, it鈥檚 crazy,鈥� said Schneider. 鈥淚 used to think, 鈥業鈥檓 going to go get my Ph.D. in curriculum design because this is ridiculous.鈥欌��
Not only is the task incredibly time-consuming, but it also often results in individual lessons that don鈥檛 build on one another or stay true to a logical progression of skills.
鈥淵ou have your best-trained teachers who are working tirelessly to create curricular units with thematic concepts that align to the standards,鈥� said Assiraj of Boston International High."But in terms of cohesion, and being able to push students to the next level, there鈥檚 always this disconnect.鈥�
According to Diskey, the issues on the ground with getting high-quality materials aren鈥檛 always a failure of the publishers鈥攐ften it鈥檚 a money issue at the district level.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not so much that it鈥檚 not available from publishers, it鈥檚 just not available in the schools,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he school hasn鈥檛 made a purchase due to funding. We heard a lot of this during the recession.鈥�
That鈥檚 certainly the case for Schneider, who teaches a diverse array of English-learners, many of whom are refugees.
鈥淚t鈥檚 so unbelievably expensive to buy a program and implement it with fidelity,鈥� she said.
Her department is allotted only a couple thousand dollars a year to spend on materials for all five and a half of its teaching positions鈥攎oney that goes toward supplies and field trips as well.
鈥淵ou cannot buy curriculum with $2,000,鈥� she said.
That鈥檚 why free online materials are promising, many say.
鈥淥pen educational resources allow us to improve on this stuff as we move forward,鈥� said Gonzales of the Helmsley trust. 鈥淲e have an opportunity to finally get it right for our kids. The field is shifting, experts are engaging.鈥�
But for now, pulling free materials can be burdensome for teachers.
鈥淔inding material that matches, it takes a lot of time,鈥� Schneider said. 鈥淵ou have to do a lot of sifting to get good stuff.鈥�
